Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.3%

Index likely to face a resistance today, says analyst.

Singapore Exchange said:

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 9.80 points higher or +0.31% to 3,179.71, taking the year-to-date performance to +0.40%. The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained +0.16% while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined -0.10%. The top active stocks were SingTel (-0.53%), Keppel Corp (+0.74%), DBS (+0.61%), OCBC Bank (-0.10%) and GLP (+2.08%).

OCBC Investment Research said:

Despite the continued gains on Wall Street Friday, the STI could be facing a fair bit of a resistance today, as caution could set in ahead of 17 Oct’s deadline to raise the US debt ceiling.

Moreover, the index did not manage to convincingly clear the key resistance at 3179 (centre of Bollinger Band); intraday high of 3197 was also short of the next hurdle at 3200 (formed a bearish candlestick instead).

Overall trading was relatively light on Friday, and could remain so ahead of the public holiday tomorrow.

Above 3200, we peg the next key resistance at 3260, clearing which could trigger a bullish reverse head and shoulders formation (potential target of 3530).

On the downside, we see 3125 (minor uptrend line since 28 Aug) as the initial support, ahead of the 3051-3071 gap.